RAVENSWOOD — The Department of Sanitation is searching for a site to replace a deteriorating longtime garage in Astoria, which neighbors say has plagued them for years with noisy trucks and traffic.
The garage at 34-28 21st St., which houses garbage trucks and other equipment that service Queens Community Board 1, has been in use since the early 1930s, according to DSNY Spokeswoman Kathy Dawkins.
Engineers recently determined the building "is in severely deteriorated condition and needs rehabilitation," Dawkins said — prompting officials to look for potential replacement locations within the confines of CB1, welcome news to local residents who want to see the facility closed.
"It would be a great idea if they moved," said Carol Wilkins, head of the residents association at the nearby NYCHA's Ravenswood Houses, where tenants have complained for years of noisy garbage trucks coming in and out of the site.
The area is prone to DSNY vehicles idling outside of people's apartments or double-parked on the street, she said, as well as garbage that ends up in the roadway after Sanitation workers wash the trucks.
"The smell is awful," she said. "There's too many trucks for that location."
DSNY agreed that the site is too small for its current capacity, and that a replacement site would need to be three or four acres large to meet the department's needs, Dawkins said.
The Sanitation Department has yet to identify a specific location, and funding has not yet been approved to purchase or build a new garage, according to Dawkins.
It's too early in the process to know whether or not the current facility will remain open in some capacity after a replacement site is found, she said.
In the meantime, DSNY plans to relocate some of the staff and vehicles from the current garage to ease overcrowding and allow for repairs.
"Prior to any fund decision the Department’s practice is to engage in an extensive dialogue with the community," Dawkins said.
CB1 District Manager Florence Koulouris warned that it could take a while for the city to find a space in the district that's big enough for the new garage. But a replacement is sorely needed, she said.
"It definitely needs to be done," she said. "The building is from the early 1900s — it's decrepit."
